5 Serie A prospects ready for a breakout 2018-19 season

5. Alban Lafont- Fiorentina

Fiorentina is a team that will surprise some people in Serie A this year. That is due in large part to the young talent on their squad that continues to develop. They also made the smart move of adding more young talent over the summer, including goalkeeper Alban Lafont. He will be the prime candidate to step into the starting keeper role for Fiorentina following the end of Marco Sportiello’s loan from Atalanta.

Lafont showcased his goalkeeping capabilities as the starter for Toulouse over the last two seasons. He made 212 saves in 72 league appearances over the last 2 years and saved 68.8% of the shots he faced over that time. By itself that’s an impressive number, but the fact that he did it with a team that finished in 13th and 18th over those two years makes it even more impressive.

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Moving to Fiorentina will give Lafont a team in front of him that will instantly make his life easier. Fiorentina is a more talented team than Toulouse across the board. With Fiorentina controlling more of the ball and having a more stable defense opposing offenses will struggle to create good chances at goal.

With a lower save difficulty Lafont should thrive in goal at Fiorentina and rack up clean sheets. Last season he finished tied for 4th in Ligue 1 with 12 clean sheets. This was in spite of playing for one of the worst teams in the league.

With a team at Fiorentina’s level he may actually be able to break into the top 3 in Serie A clean sheets next season, which would be an incredible feat for a 19 year old keeper making his Serie A debut.